EARTH DAY
As we commemorate Earth Day, it is time for the global community to take cognizance of the unprecedented damage that we have caused to planet Earth.
Bharat Dogra is a freelance journalist who has been involved with several social movements and initiatives. His recent book on survival issues and people’s response titled Planet in Peril has been published by Vitasta, Delhi.
It is by now well understood that climate change is an extremely serious global environmental problem which is most likely to have catastrophic consequences. If greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are pushed beyond a point, then the situation can get out of human control and the many life-nurturing conditions of planet earth can be seriously damaged.
It is also increasingly recognized that while serious, internationally coordinated efforts to check GHG emissions started about three decades back, the pace of climate change could not be checked.
The international efforts are coordinated mainly by the United Nations Framework Convention on Checking Climate Change. Of course within this framework many persons and organizations have worked very hard and with a lot of commitment but despite this, in terms of achieving the actual targets of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, or creating a very strong and reliable base for achieving this in the near future there has been an important failure which should be admitted and is being admitted by the prevailing leading scientific opinion.
In this context attention may be drawn to the rather limited mandate of the UN framework. The most prominent international effort working on arguably the most serious environmental problem unfortunately works within a narrow framework.
If a basic objective is to reduce GHG emissions and if it is known that reducing production of all arms and ammunition by 90 per cent can result, by its direct and indirect impacts, in a substantial achievement of this objective, then the United Nations should be able to mandate this, particularly when it is known that such action will also save death and destruction in many other ways. All weapons of mass destruction need to be eliminated in a phased manner in the very near future to avoid unacceptably high risks and hazards.
We can also take a wider view and instead of ‘arms and ammunition’ we can say ‘all goods which are known to have a highly destructive impact on health and safety’. Surely the objective of reducing the production and consumption of such goods by 90 per cent is a desirable objective. This is also likely to make a very substantial contribution to reducing GHG emissions, apart from bringing other significant benefits of health and safety.
We can go a step further and say that ‘all production and consumption which clearly involves a huge waste of resources and without which satisfaction of human needs and comforts will not be harmed’ should be discouraged by very heavy taxation. This will further reduce GHG emissions considerably.
But such clearly available solutions are generally not considered to be within the existing framework. Such solutions by decreasing the overall energy requirements will also make it easier to shift towards renewable sources of energy.
Instead the framework which is considered is generally one in which overall consumption, production and energy levels remain high, but ambitious targets are set to replace fossil fuels with solar, wind, nuclear and hydro energy.
This ignores the problems involved in obtaining such high and increasing levels of energy from these other sources, some of which are also known to be highly risky and destructive for environment, particularly at high scales of production/generation.
In addition, apart from increase in GHG emissions, there are other ways in which patterns of unnecessarily high, wasteful and destructive patterns of production and consumption contribute to serious environmental ruin.
Hence it is important to look beyond narrow frameworks. Many poor people to meet their basic needs need to increase consumption of essential goods. This should be provided for in any justice based solution. At the same time production and use of all destructive goods (all weapons and all goods proven to be very harmful for health and safety) should reduce by 90 per cent or more, while the production of many wasteful goods and services should decrease drastically.
This involves changes in life patterns and laws (including international law). This should be accepted. The overall life which will emerge from such changes will be a much safer and happier life with very low levels of violence, substance abuse and toxic goods (and related health hazards), not to speak of reduced threats of climate change and other environmental problems.
Of course such results have to be achieved within a democratic framework and for this a very broad-based, persuasive, creative and committed people’s environmental movement is needed with very close linkages to peace and justice movements. These movements are more needed now than ever before for the entire world cutting across national and other narrow boundaries.
The dedicated work of such movements for over a decade or so can create conducive conditions which provides new hope for resolving such critical survival issues as climate change in time before it is too late. A critical time has been reached when narrow solutions in bits and pieces will just not work, are just not adequate and we have to make space for the truly big tasks that are needed to solve unprecedented huge problems with unacceptably high risks for humanity and for all forms of life.
